Competitiveness

Immigration represents an indispensible component of any strategy to boost economic growth and prosperity. Immigration policy can contribute directly to innovation, technological progress, and rising human-capital levels alongside investments in education and workforce-training systems, research and development, public infrastructure, and regulatory policies that effectively reduce barriers to employment. When done right, immigration policymaking offers employers access to the workers they require to build their firms' competitiveness and can increase availability of vital services.

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Multimedia March 8, 2019 Upskilling the U.S. Labor Force: Mapping the Credentials of Immigrant-Origin Workers	Reports March 2019 Credentials for the Future: Mapping the Potential for Immigrant-Origin Adults in the United States By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix
Articles December 6, 2018 Sweden: By Turns Welcoming and Restrictive in its Immigration Policy By Admir Skodo	Policy Briefs September 2018 Reimagining Skilled Migration Partnerships to Support Development By Kate Hooper
Reports August 2018 Tapping the Talents of Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States: Takeaways from Experts Summit By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Multimedia June 5, 2018 Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together
Books June 2018 Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together By Andrew Selee	Commentaries September 2017 All Eyes Turn to Congress, Following Trump Decision to Terminate DACA Program By Julia Gelatt

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Reports November 2015 The Southeast Asia-Australia Regional Migration System: Some Insights into the “New Emigration” By Graeme Hugo , Janet Wall and Margaret Young	Policy Briefs December 2014 A ‘Freer’ Flow of Skilled Labour within ASEAN: Aspirations, Opportunities, and Challenges in 2015 and Beyond By Guntur Sugiyarto and Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
Reports October 2014 Selling Visas and Citizenship: Policy Questions from the Global Boom in Investor Immigration By Madeleine Sumption and Kate Hooper	Reports September 2014 Rotterdam: A Long-Time Port of Call and Home to Immigrants By Han Entzinger and Godfried Engbersen
Reports August 2014 The City Brand: Champion of Immigrant Integration or Empty Marketing Tool? By Elizabeth Collett	Reports August 2014 Policies to Support Immigrant Entrepreneurship By Maria Vincenza Desiderio
Reports August 2014 The Human-Capital Needs of Tech City, London By Max Nathan	Reports August 2014 Revitalizing Detroit: Is There a Role for Immigration? By Steve Tobocman

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Video, Audio

December 2, 2009

Illegal Immigration's Effects on the U.S. Economy and Policy

Illegal immigration's overall impact on the U.S. economy is negligible, despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers, according to UCSD Professor of Economics Gordon Hanson.

Video

October 28, 2009

Talent, Competitiveness, and Migration

This book release and discussion focused on the accumulation of talent and its effects on economic growth and migration trends.

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Policy Briefs

November 2020

At the Starting Gate: The Incoming Biden Administration’s Immigration Plans

Joe Biden pledged during his campaign to reverse some of the most restrictive immigration actions undertaken during Donald Trump’s four years in office. While some actions can be undone with the stroke of a pen, others will take more time. This policy brief outlines the incoming administration’s top immigration priorities, examines challenges and opportunities ahead, and previews MPI policy ideas that could improve the immigration system and advance the national interest.

Commentaries

October 2020

Broad and Blunt, the Trump Administration’s H-1B Changes Miss the Opportunity for Real Reform

The Trump administration's changes to the H-1B visa program are the most significant in three decades, promising to end the practice of replacing U.S. workers with highly skilled immigrants. While the problems the administration has identified and the interest in protecting U.S. workers are legitimate ones, its approach may cripple the H-1B program itself, as this commentary explains.

Commentaries

January 2020

Brexit Day—Is This the Dawning of the Age of Immobility?

Brexit Day, on January 31, 2020, marks a dramatic turn for the United Kingdom as it leaves the European Union, in significant measure because it wants to control its immigration destiny. But it remains unclear whether Brexit will allow the United Kingdom to cast a net wider for the global workers it seeks or will deepen the moat around the island. Either way, Brexit is likely to spark new forms of mobility—and immobility.

Policy Briefs

November 2019

Health Insurance Coverage of Immigrants and Latinos in the Kansas City Metro Area

Latinos and immigrants are at least twice as likely to lack health insurance coverage as the overall population in the Kansas City metropolitan area. This gap that has significant implications for the region, as Latinos and immigrants will form an ever-growing share of the area’s labor force and tax base amid anticipated declines in the native-born, non-Latino population.

Policy Briefs

August 2019

How Does Immigration Fit into the Future of the U.S. Labor Market?

The U.S. economy is facing an uncertain future as an aging workforce, stagnating labor force participation, skill mismatches, and automation reshape the labor market. This issue brief explores these forces and the role that immigration could play in supporting future U.S. economic growth. It also examines how immigration affects workers already in the country, both native born and immigrant.

Policy Briefs

August 2019

Immigration and the U.S. Labor Market: A Look Ahead

In the coming decades, the U.S. labor market will undergo major transformation. Automation, an aging workforce, and alternative staffing practices will change how, where, and by whom work is done. This think piece, by a former chief economist for the U.S. Labor Department, explores how immigrant workers fit into this changing landscape, and what immigration and workforce policy changes could help maximize their contributions to the U.S. economy.

Policy Briefs

August 2019

Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy: New Realities Call for New Answers

The U.S. immigration system is in desperate need of an overhaul. What has been missing is an alternate vision for a path forward that treats immigration as a strategic resource while also accounting for heightened security and rule-of-law imperatives, which together can further U.S. interests, values, and democratic principles as a society. This concept note outlines a new MPI initiative, Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy, that seeks to fill this gap.

Reports

July 2019

Equipping Immigrant Selection Systems for a Changing World of Work (Transatlantic Council Statement)

As technological developments—from automation to artificial intelligence and machine learning—reshape the world of work, governments face the challenge of updating how they attract, select, and retain economic-stream immigrants. This report, concluding a series on building migration systems for a new age of economic competitiveness, lays out the key considerations for "future-proofing" immigrant selection systems.

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